On 2 August 2004, a shaft in an underground tunnel at the Tehri hydroelectric project collpased killing 29 workers. Fifty more sustained injuries in the accident that raised serious doubts about the safety of the workers at the Tehri dam. The accident occurred at the T3 tunnel of the dam. The unlined portion of the Intermediate Level Outlet had caved in under the debris of a mudslide and fell on the first iron platform. The platform, which was supported by loose soil, could not bear the load and fell on the second platform and then onto the third platform. A number of people were working on each platform at the time of the incident. According to various sources, there were between 60 and 130 workers at the time of the accident. There was, however, no official record available with the authorities on the number of workers, as the contractors do not maintain any daily records of workers.

After the accident, 50 workers with injuries were rescued from the site. District Magistrate Punit Kansal supervised the rescue operation by the district authorities and the contractors. Several lives could have been saved if the rescue operation was not delayed due to lack of proper communication equipment. The contractor blamed the continuous rains for the delay in rescue work. The death toll given on the first day was 13, which more than doubled to 27 the next day. On the third day, two more bodies were recovered. Four workers received serious injuries. All deceased workers were employed by the Jaiprakash Associates, the contractor group, which announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 20 lakh for the Senior Project Engineer, who also lost his life in the accident. The Chief Minister of Uttaranchal also promised compensation.



Probe Ordered

A fact-finding mission by the New Delhi-based Centre for Education and Communication (CEC) in association with the Uttaranchal trade union members of CITU, HMS and AITUC visited the site. The team members were Bhagwan Singh Rana, State Secretary CITU, Trilok Singh Rawat, State President, CITU, M P Singh, Senior State Vice President, HMS, Purnanand Kothari, State President, AITUC, A C Badoni, State Secretary, AITUC and Pranjal Jyoti Goswami and Swapnil Srivastava of CEC. The central government also ordered a probe into the accident and Union Power Minister P M Sayeed along with the Power Secretary visited the accident site. A three-member high-level committee headed by M S Reddy was appointed for the inquiry. The committee was asked to look into the cause of the accident, find out lapses that may have taken place and suggest measures to prevent recurrence of such accidents. Chief Minister N D Tiwari ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident. A technical probe has also been ordered. No report is, however, made available to the public yet.



The Tehri dam project was first conceived in 1949 and was sanctioned by the Planning Commission in 1972. It is located in the outer Himalaya in the Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttaranchal. It is planned to be the fifth highest dam in the world, 260.5 meters high and spread over an area of 45 square kilometers in the Bhagirathi and Bhilangana valleys near Tehri town. Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) is a joint venture of the Government of India and the state government of Uttaranchal is the core executing corpse of the project. THDC allotted the construction work to two big contractors namely M/s Jaiprakash Associates and Thappar Group. The former is constructing the Dam, underground tunnels and other civil work while the latter is doing the construction work of the powerhouse.






Workers without Status

The contractors hire technical staff for the construction work directly but the additional manpower requirement is fulfilled by the petty contractors. Besides about 1,600 officials of project, there are more than 10,000 contract labourers doing daily work at the construction site. All the contract workers are men and are mostly under the age of 30. Most of them come from states like Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab. There are a few workers from Nepal as well. The contractors have provided some makeshift tin-huts for the workers. Most of the labourers are working as daily wage earners without any fixed employment terms. Most of the workers are unskilled while many have acquired some skill by working with seniors on the site. The contractors never issue identity cards to the labourers. The wages received by the workers range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,500 per month depending upon the task they perform. The workers are not entitled to any kind of social security benefits. Most of the workers toil for more than 12 hours per day without any leave other than the one-day weekly holiday. Though the contractors claim that each worker has been insured, no clear indication is available on who has been paying the premium for the insurance. The construction workers of the Tehri Dam do not enjoy the freedom of association. The workers have to survive under the strict vigilance of their employers and are not allowed to organise. There are instances when some tried to unite in the past but they had to face severe consequences as reported by the trade union members. In January 2004, many workers became involved in trade union activities and tabled their demands before the employer. As a result, about 3,000 workers were retrenched from their jobs.

The contractors never paid attention to workers’ safety, which was the least priority for them. Not a single worker has undergone safety training before undertaking hazardous underground tunnel construction. Workers were not provided with safety shoes, which is an essential requirement while working with heavy equipment. The workers are carried into the tunnel on a mechanical trolley, which is meant to carry only material. Accidents are frequent at the construction site though most go unreported. Even accidents, which resulted in death are not reported. The Fact-Finding Team was shocked to see the arrangement of temporary stairs constructed for the workers to go inside the tunnel, in case of power failure or other problems with the trolley. The ladder was made of iron rods without any barriers. There was no emergency preparedness programme as evident from the pace of the rescue operation. Even the hospital did not have the required capacity to handle an emergency.

Conflicting versions have surfaced in the media about the cause of the collapse ranging from rock fall to mudslide to water seepage to technical snag. According to the Ministry of Power, the accident happened due to a massive rock fall in a vertical shaft. Independent reports suggested that the contractor rushed to meet the September deadline to complete the tunnel totally overlooking the safety aspects. Mudslide is not beyond imagination in the area, which could have been prevented by taking the necessary measures. There had been continuous rains a few days before the accident and the workers had informed about seepage at the site to the supervisor of the previous shift but nobody paid any attention.


Safety is Lowest Priority

Could the authorities have foreseen the accident? Many scientists and geology experts have pointed out to the fragile nature of the Himalayan hills and grave risks associated with dam construction in such areas. Measures to counter such accidents have never been implemented because workers’ safety is the lowest priority. Various commissions have been set up by the central government to review the safety aspects of the dam but not the safety of the construction workers. Safety means ‘safety of the dam’ not the safety of workers who are involved in construction of the dam. The workers will continue to become victims of such negligence of authorities unless proper steps are introduced to prevent recurrence of such accidents.